A Foxborough man has been sentenced to five years in prison for what prosecutors say was his 15th drunken driving conviction.

But a lawyer for 65-year-old Kenneth Norman said in court on Wednesday that his client has a heart condition and the five-year sentence is as good as a death sentence. He noted that Norman had never hurt anyone.

Norman was found guilty this week of drunken driving, driving after suspension of license and driving negligently. He had been pulled over in Millbury last September. Police say his eyes were bloodshot, his speech was slurred, his vehicle smelled of alcohol and he failed field sobriety tests.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that Massachusetts authorities had suspended Norman's driver's license in 1973, but he had a Rhode Island license.